Fast Boat Adventures

Cam wrote this a long time ago, and I didn´t realize it wasn´t up yet....

well as instructed i am writing from a sweaty hot and smelly room over looking the muddy ugly and polluted village which connects directly to the amazon river with the same conditions. Ben now told me that he is going to fire me for what i just wrote. let's say the true interpretation of his “instructions” is that a lap top is very good to have because we can describe our surroundings and they're not always a stinky internet cafe. the room here is actually quite comfortable, gracias a Dios. and compared to last night, this place is a Hilton. but let's back up from there. first of all, i won't comment of dear Uncle Dan's need to be in the internet office for 3 hours before we left Leticia nor Dave's heroic attempt to help us across the mighty amazon at 11 at night by contracting with 2 fortune seeking boat stealers. but still, i'm still getting ahead of myself. our “last supper” was prepared by the loving hands of Bethany, Daniella, me and Aunt Martha. Nathans loving hands were occupied showing some of our friends from school around the lap top. they were sweet and it was fun knowing we had made some different friends while staying there. we then told them goodbye and started our pizza dinner...one of our favorite meals while there. we had a very touching speech/prayer from Dani one of our faithful friends here. while eating i was sure to remind Dave to enjoy every last bit of the American luxury. our dinner was over at 7ish which moved directly into making room for all of the last minute things in our bags. around 9 we set off for the port, using our most popular method of transportation: walking. the bags were carried in the jeep and we set off on foot. that is when we were brought to our boat. after about ½ hour of standing around we threw our things into the borrowed boat. we said all of our goodbyes to Paul, Martha, Bethany, Matthew, Dani, and Durley. then we sat and waited in the boat while one of the boys tried to get the motor started. he tried probably 49 times, winding the cord around the thing that spins then pulling with all his might. near one of his last attempts the motor started then abruptly quit. we had been waiting for nearly 20 minutes and the thought of the motor finally starting was a relief. then to our great shock and astonishment a older man walked onto the boat saying in distinct Spanish “this is my boat, and it is not going any where. if you do not get out and leave it alone i will call the police.” then through a maze of confusion we found out that the boat and motor had been temporarily borrowed or to be less polite: stolen. the funny thing is, is that the boat had a leak in it with the bottom being so rotten that if it had ran into a floating obstacle of some sort we would have been swimming with all of our luggage across the amazon. instead of this adventure, we dragged our things back up the hill to where we got a taxi into Tabatinga, Brazil. there Uncle Dan woke up the boat dock guard and convinced him to take us across to Santa Rosa, Peru. we loaded our things onto a considerably more luxurious boat with a non-decomposing base, a dry wood floor to walk on, and a good paint job. we slipped away from the dock with our friends standing by to wave us goodbye. then we floated into the dark amazon as our boatman took us safely across to the other side. through the haze of 12:15 in the morning i gathered that our boat was next to the fast boat we were going to board at 4:30 in the morning. we then decided to just sleep on the floating dock next to the boat. well some of us did. Nathan, however, decided to accept the dare from Dave and stay up all night “watching the stuff.” Daniella found herself a bed on a bench, i found one beneath her, and the rest threw up hammocks, grabbing 3 quick hours of sleep. i must not forget to remember the squadrons of F-17s (other wise known as mosquitoes) that Aunt Cheryl was trying to fight off through the night. they must've been hungry in order to be willing to bite through the hammock and her clothing, finally getting their midnight stack. then around 4 in the morning we woke up to a gathering of fellow fast boat travelers. we brought our passports to be stamped, loaded our luggage, and found our seats on the fast boat. at 4:35 we putted away in our fast boat from the floating dock. amazing how after such a rigorous evening of things not going as planned some things can just happen like clock work. so here we were, on our way to Yquitos. during the boat ride we got a good ham sandwich and coffee for breakfast, then lunch was rice, a potato, stuffed chicken, Inca cola, and 2 candies. the ride was enjoyably cool. after that trip i discovered that when you're tired enough one can really sleep anywhere. apart from the good food, talking to Daniella, sleeping, and watching a boat that was stuck try to wiggle it's way out of a sand bar, nothing of much intense interest happened. well that's my ride Nathan and Anna, however, had a different experience with “Pony” a local “energy drink” spilling on them. Anna was just about to fall asleep on the dirty yet comfy ground when a “sailor” thought “this poor beautiful gringa needs a pillow...here, i'll be her handsome frog and give her a life vest.” turning to give her the life vest he did not realizing his heroic attempts to be the princess's frog had been altered by a bottle of “Pony” sitting in the pocket of the life vest. he then turned the vest upside down pouring “Pony” all over poor Anna. then being wedged between two seats, Anna could not turn to miss the flow of “Pony” and sat staring up at the sailor in helpless horror. Nathan, sitting directly above Anna grabbed the life vest and showed the sailor the bottle of “Pony” the sailer then chucked it out the window and brought Nathan a towel. Nathan started to wipe off the seat then moved to Anna when the sailor came and snatched the towel back. once we arrived we were greeted by our ripped backpacks and many moto taxi drivers. we chose 3 drivers and were brought to our old favorite “motel.” the view from where i write this really is quite incredible. the lush green jungle, the quaint huts built off of the ground with a roof made out of palm fronds, and finally the silvery blue amazon. the sun will be setting soon showing another day completed here on this earth. which just means one day closer to spending an eternity with Him. we will be going to get supper when Aunt Cheryl and Anna return from their quest for water. the Lord continues to carry us here, and shows His good and caring hand to us through our path down here. Lydia just came and informed me that we are looking at going on a boat for Pucalpa to marrow. your prayers for us on the rest of this journey are greatly appreciated. we will continue to remember the words from the song that i am just now listening to “in Christ alone my hope is found, he is my light, my strength, my song. this corner stone, this solid ground, firm through the fiercest drought and storm. what heights of love what depths of peace when fears are stilled when striving cease, my comforter my all in all, here in the love of Christ i stand.”


-Cam